The Quick and the Dead (1995)
Director: Sam Raimi
Starring: Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russel Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio
Primary genre: Revisionist western
Although there was an appetite to increase female action screentime in the mid 90s, most US audiences were not ready to embrace this act of defiance being mostly lenient towards supporting roles (e.g., “Batman Returns” (1992), “Demolition Man” (1993), “Lethal Weapon 3” (1992)) who still fall for the lead protagonist’s charms and macho appeal. Bold gambles never paid off (e.g., Kathryn Bigelow’s “Blue Steel” (1990), and most notably, Renny Harlin’s uber expensive “Cutthroat Island”) and among the pile of box office flops was Sam Raimi’s revisionist western “The Quick and The Dead” starring Sharon Stone.
Stone being at a career high after that crossleg in “Basic Instinct” (1992), was enjoying tremendous success in Hollywood. While she continued to enjoy critical acclaim the same year in Martin Scorsese’s “Casino”, she turn her gaze towards the leading role in the most of peculiar of genres: westerns. Serving as a producer too, she handpicked Raimi due to his impressive (camera) work on “Army of Darkness” (1992) thinking that his style will appropriately serve the Wild West.
“Like I always say - put a fox in the henhouse and you’ll have chicken for dinner every time.”
Known for his virtuoso camera staging, Raimi, however, feels like an oddball choice for a script that attempts to galvanize on the pathos of Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West” (1969). Moments of brevity are contradicted by cartoonish, Looney Tunes inspired antics that can be jarring in a film that desperately seeks to take itself too seriously. While such an approach had its merits in “Evil Dead 2” (1987) and “Army of Darkness” amidst a wacky horror-esque setting, the frontier of New America is a different story altogether, one that does not require the introduction of Wild Coyote and Road Runner. Raimi is evidently unsure about the film’s tone electing to double down on a stylistic overkill; crash-zooms, dubious montages, and whip-pans are everywhere. Although “The Quick and the Dead” can offer a visual appeal, its efforts to stand next to Leone’s gigantic shadow by mimic occasionally his methods denigrate the movie as an anemic product utterly devoid of engaging soul.
Set entirely in a remote town and around a who-is-the-fastest-gun tournament, the stakes are not enough to justify Stone’s inclusion in the plot as she barely does anything to progress the story any further or to push the villain’s boundaries. Obvious deleted scenes take out any meat from the supporting cast who are glorified archetypes around Gene Hackman’s villainous overlord while half-way through the pacing dips where the most obvious twists take place to the surprise of no one. The script tries to discuss shades of morality and faith under heavy handed religious metaphors but these go nowhere lacking the necessary development to be meaningful.
Stone’s stunning looks prevent her from passing as a lonely (and expert) gunslinger spending her time looking (bizarrely) frightened, dazed or confused as opposed embracing completely the idea of an action hero (something Asian cinema did with a straight face way before Hollywood). To make matters worse, the colorful cast comprised by the titan that is Hackman (who enjoys every second of it) and character actors like Keith David, Pat Hingle and Lance Henriksen unfortunately don’t leave room for Stone to truly make an impact outclassing her in every scene they manage to share.
Nevertheless, it is not a complete waste of time. When “The Quick and the Dead” works, it works well. The stuntwork is A+, the cinematography by Dante Spinotti (“Last of the Mohicans” (1992)) gives the movie an expensive scope, the production design is solid and the performances - sans Stone - are engaging enough. Watch out for a (very) young DiCaprio and Crowe signifying greater things to come in the US soil.
Raimi’s gonzo western
+Cast especially Hackman
+Raimi’s gonzo direction
+Cinematography
+Solid production design
-Miscast Stone
-Standard plot
-Anemic clone of Leone’s far superior work